1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drawer-type cooking device comprising a cooking device body having a heating chamber, and a drawer body movably disposed by a slide rail in the cooking device body such that the drawer body can be drawn out from the heating chamber of the cooking device body to the outside.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been conventionally proposed a cooking device comprising an apparatus body having a cooking chamber in which an object to be cooked is housed, a door for shielding the cooking chamber from outside, a bottom plate moving in conjunction with the door, a sliding mechanism for sliding the bottom plate out of/in the cooking chamber, a motor for driving the bottom plate, transmission means for transmitting a drive force of the motor to the bottom plate, a latch device for opening and retaining the door, a door open/close switch, and a control circuit for controlling drive of the motor so as to operate the door upon reception of a signal from the door open/close switch (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H3-045820 (Patent Document 1)). The bottom plate is directly coupled to the lower portion of the door in the vicinity of the lower hem. When the door is opened, the sides of the bottom plate are in an open state.
Also, there has been proposed a cooking device in which a slide body in which an object to be heated is housed is slidably provided in a cooking device body, comprising detecting means for detecting that the slide body has been slide out, control means for outputting an excitation command signal when receiving a detection signal from the detecting means, and an electromagnet leg portion disposed on the bottom face of the cooking device body and excited when receiving the excitation command signal (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H6-109257 (Patent Document 2)). When the slide body is slide out, the excitation command signal is output from the control means based on detection by the detecting means, and the electromagnet leg portion disposed on the bottom face of the cooking device body is excited. The electromagnet leg portion is chucked to a metallic placing face to prevent the cooking device from being turned over, so as to use the cooking device in a stable state all the time.
Also, there has been proposed a microwave oven, wherein a heating container having an opening in its top is provided so as to be freely drawn out from a body housing, a heating chamber for confining microwave is formed by the heating container and a lid portion provided in the body housing side and covering the opening of the heating container, and electromagnetic wave leakage is prevented by providing a choke groove between an opening peripheral portion of the heating container and the lid portion facing the opening peripheral portion, so as to eliminate the electromagnetic wave leakage even if a food placing portion has a movable drawer structure (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H11-237053 (Patent Document 3)).
There has been proposed a cooking device in which a placing portion of an object to be heated of a heating chamber has a drawable structure, comprising a cooking device body having a heating chamber, a drawer body movably disposed in the cooking device body such that the drawer body can be drawn out from the heating chamber of the cooking device body to the outside, and a slide rail for moving the drawer body in the cooking device body, wherein the slide rail is disposed outside of the heating chamber, so that it is not necessary to form the sliding mechanism with a part or a material having high heat resistance and flame resistance and it is possible to prevent the occurrence of faulty discharge by microwave (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-221081 (Patent Document 4)).
There has been proposed a slide-type cooking device, wherein a drawer body having a door and a heating container in which an object to be heated is placed therein is disposed in a cooking device body in which a heating chamber using microwave is formed therein, in a movable manner between a housed position where the heating container is housed in the heating chamber, and a drawn-out position where the heating container is drawn out from the heating chamber to the outside, and a sliding mechanism allowing the drawer body to be moved is constituted by right and left slide rails outside of the heating chamber and a center slide rail in which a drive mechanism is disposed, the respective slide rails and the drive mechanism being disposed isolatedly from the heating chamber, so that the slide rails and the drive mechanism are not exposed to a high temperature and a microwave or are not affected by food debris which could cause a breakdown (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-38296 (Patent Document 5)). Also, there has been disclosed a drawer-type food warmer having a moving rail only on the bottom face and in which the right and left side faces are opened (U.S. Pat. No. 6,849,835B2 (Patent Document 6)).
The inventions described in the above respective documents seem to have following points to be improved concerning supporting of the door. That is, in the inventions disclosed in the Patent Documents 1 to 3, the lower side portion of the door is only butt against the bottom plate to be fixed thereto. Thus, in the case where the door is heavily loaded by body weight, a heated object or the like, an attachment portion of the door and the bottom plate could be deformed. If the attachment portion is deformed, there is a possibility that microwave for heating leak from a gap generated between the inclined door and the body to the outside, and it is necessary to handle the apparatus with enough caution.
In the Patent Document 4, the moving mechanism is provided in right and left side walls outside of the heating chamber, and an angle for attaching the moving mechanism is fixed to the door. Therefore, a force acting on the door is supported by the cooking device body by being relatively dispersed via the moving mechanism provided in the right and left and the center of the lower portion. Even when the drawer body is drawn out, the door is not inclined forward and is stably supported by the cooking device body. However, in the Patent Document 4, the moving mechanism disposed in the right and left side wall faces extend through the right and left sides of the heating container when the drawer body is drawn out- Thus, when an object to be heated, for example, a heavy object such as a pot with soup therein or the like is put into or removed from the heating container which is combined with the door, the moving mechanism stands in the way, and the usability is low. Furthermore, from the standpoint of appearance, the visual quality needs to be improved. Also, the Patent Document 5, in which the moving mechanism for supporting the door of the drawer body is disposed at three places of right and left side wall faces and a bottom wall face outside of the heating chamber, has the similar points to be improved as those of the Patent Document 4. Furthermore, although the Patent Document 6 has such a similar point that the Patent Document 6 has a drawer structure, the Patent Document 6 discloses not the cooking device, but an electric warming device, in which the drawer is only manually operated and does not have an electric moving mechanism. The electric warming device does not have an electromagnetic wave sealing mechanism or a latch hook as a safety mechanism since it is not a microwave oven. Since the drawer does not have the electric mechanism, a moving mechanism simply by a lower rail is employed.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a drawer-type cooking device having a conventional structure. FIG. 6 is a side view of the drawer-type cooking device shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a main portion (an attachment portion of a door and a movable rail) of the drawer-type cooking device shown in FIG. 5 A cooking device body 1 has a heating chamber 3 for heat-cooking an object to be heated. A drawer body 2 is movably, namely, slidably disposed in the cooking device body 1 such that the drawer body 2 can be drawn out from the heating chamber 3 of the cooking device body 1 to the front side. The cooking device comprises a movable rail 8 formed of an angle member as a moving mechanism 4 for slidingly moving the drawer body 2 in the cooking device body 1. The drawer body 2 comprises a door 6 for opening and closing the heating chamber 3 and a heating container 7 for placing and housing an object to be heated. The heating container 7 has side walls in the right and left sides, a back wall in the back side disposed in the heating chamber 3 of the cooking device body 1, and an opening in the top, and the door 6 is attached to the front thereof When the door 6 closes an opening of the heating chamber 3, the internal space of the heating chamber 3 becomes a sealed space by internal wall faces of the cooking device body 1 and the drawer body 2, so as to prevent microwave from leaking.
The door 6 of the drawer body 2 is supported by the cooking device body 1 by right and left side wall faces located outside of the heating chamber 3 via the moving mechanism 4. The moving mechanism 4 comprises a fixed rail 9 and the movable rail 8 sliding along the fixed rail 9. The fixed rail 9 is attached to the right and left wall faces of the heating chamber 3 outside of the heating chamber 3 of the cooking device body 1. As shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the movable rail 8 is attached to an internal side wall face of the door 6 via a folded portion 10 so as to extend from the inside of the door 6 of the drawer body 2 to the inside of the heating chamber 3 of the cooking device body 1. Since the moving mechanism 4 for moving the drawer body 2 in the cooking device body 1 is disposed outside of the heating chamber 3, it is not necessary to use an expensive part or material having high heat resistance and flame resistance for the movable rail 8 and the fixed rail 9. Also, since the moving mechanism 4 is disposed outside of the heating chamber 3, a risk of discharge by microwave is eliminated without being affected by microwave emitted in the heating chamber 3.
Although such a configuration can be considered that the moving mechanism in the related art is concentrated only in the lower portion moving mechanism, in such a case, there is a possibility that power transmission to a latch hook at the time of opening and closing operations decreases, and there occurs a new problem that the reliability of the opening and closing operations of the latch hook and the durability of the latch hook portion are reduced or the like.
In the field of microwave oven, new distinct configuration of automatic drawer type is emerging of late, for which this invention is intended for a further improvement.
In traditional microwave ovens, customers can place a plate of food in the oven almost effortlessly with the door open. In case of drawer type microwave oven, even when the door is opened automatically, the door in front and drawer moving mechanisms on sides are reportedly making some customers uncomfortable.
This invention is intended to bring drawer type microwave oven a significant clearance in this respect of usability without compromising on door strength.
By focusing on the fact that the above problems of usability and appearance are caused by that the moving mechanism disposed in the right and left side wall faces are located in the right and left sides of the heating container when the drawer body is drawn out, there is such a problem to be solved that, in the drawer-type cooking device, a more sophisticated moving mechanism is to be obtained by devising coupling of the moving mechanism and the door which constitutes the drawer body.
An object of the present invention is to provide a drawer-type cooking device for facilitating to put and remove an object (an object to be heat-processed) into and from a heating chamber and improving the usability and visual quality by lowering, as much as possible, the height position of a slide rail which allows a drawer body to be slidable in the forward and backward directions with respect to a cooking device body.